Investigators say not a trace of Kyron Horman has turned up, even with hundreds of people searching. Nearly two days after the 7 year old is believed to have gone missing from Skyline Elementary School in rural Northwest Portland, investigators are still trying to figure out what happened to the smiling second grader after he was last seen here Friday morning.

An entire night and full day has passed since 8:45 a.m. Friday morning when Kyron's step mom says she last saw the boy after taking him through a science fair at school and sent him off to class. His teachers say he never checked in.

If investigators do have solid information giving them any idea where he might be they're not saying: "The information we're keeping from the public and press has everything to do with integrity of investigation," said a search spokesperson.

Now searchers look through tall grass, from the air and on foot, for any sign of the little boy. The FBI has now joined the search, as has the National Guard. Using an infrared system, heat detection and a search pattern grid to not miss an inch, searchers have completely searched an area of about two miles surrounding the school.

We were given an inside look at Kyron's classroom here at Skyline Elementary. Inside Ms. Porter's second- and third-grade blended class we saw a glimpse into who this 7-year-old boy is: Kyron liked art and we're told the second grader is very good at it. Kyron wrote about splashing in a lake, with artwork to compliment his writing assignment. We also saw his science fair project, which was about red tree frogs.

"We're asking people who live in the area to do an exhaustive, no-stone-unturned search of their property," said Captain Jason Gates at the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. They are being asked to search everything, including "their outbuildings, cars and trucks."

Gates said they have enough professionals for the search. Even so, one of Kyron's neighbors has put up missing fliers, hoping the photo will help remind people what Kyron looks like.

Meantime, classmates and their parents as well as complete strangers worry and try to help. The father of one Skyline Elementary School student, 5-year-old Pierce Sherpa, said his son couldn't sit home any longer: "He heard the news last night and he said this morning 'Let's go. We gotta go, gotta go find this little boy.'"

He, like others around the search perimeter, hope the little boy is OK.

Investigators said the family is cooperating in the case: "Our point is don't lose hope." We asked a spokesperson for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office about the step mother's whereabouts and what she knows. Deputies said they can't comment, as it is part of the investigation.

The search for Kyron will continue throughout Saturday night. Horman is 3-feet-8-inches tall, weighs about 50 pounds and was wearing the a science-themed T-shirt (see photo below), orange and black cargo pants, white socks and worn black Skechers-brand tennis shoes with orange trim.

Those with any information about Kyron Horman's disappearance are asked to call a tip line at (503) 261-2847 anytime.

UPDATE: At a press conference at 8 p.m. Saturday night, Incident Commander Lieutenant Harry Smith said search and rescue teams also are on standby if they need to be deployed based upon information received by the tip line.

Meanwhile, Skyline Elementary officials are setting up appointments with parents or anyone else who was at the school Friday. Those appointments are expected to take place throughout the day Sunday at 11536 N.W. Skyline Blvd.

"We are doing everything possible," Smith said, "to bring Kyron home."
This picture was taken at the science fair at Skyline Elementary Friday morning. Friends now say this snapshot – which KATU showed on its 11 p.m. news Friday – was the last image of Kyron Horman before he disappeared:

Images of about 10,000 properties will be taken as part of a pilot scheme run by both the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) and the Scottish Government.

The scan results will help the association to prioritize work on energy efficiency measures such as loft, cavity wall and water tank insulation in around 2000 properties.

The homes will then be rescanned after improvements are carried out and data showing the improvements provided online at www.sfha.co.uk

Deputy chief executive of the SFHA, Andrew Field, said: "Substantially reducing carbon emissions in a relatively short space of time is challenging and this pilot project is at the forefront of efforts to meet the Government targets.

"The use of cutting edge technology will enable housing providers to pinpoint precisely where heat is being lost and to put resources into work where it will have the most impact, resulting in lower emissions, lower fuel bills for tenants and warmer homes."

The four housing associations taking part in the pilot which if successful, could be rolled out across the country, are River Clyde Homes, Dunedin Canmore, Clyde Valley and Cairn housing associations.

The extension of the energy efficient homes credit was part of an omnibus tax extension bill. Since the House version differs in total content it must go through a reconciliation process with the Senate. Since the House and Senate language for the energy efficient homes credit extension it will not be affected by the reconciliate process. Once the House and Senate passes the bill, President Obama must sign it.

RESNET efforts now need to be directed in extending the credit to homes that meet 50 on the HERS Index and extending the credit to 2014.

An increasing number of building performance contractors are entering the HVAC industry at an alarming rate. This new breed of contractor has the potential to deliver effective all inclusive energy packages, but some newcomers are installing the worst quality HVAC systems we’ve seen in decades.

The ability to deliver real HVAC system efficiency requires much more than hiring an employee with a state issued license and buying a 95 AFUE furnace and an 18 SEER condenser at the parts house. Unfortunately, few consumers have the ability to discern the difference between a good or bad energy contractor. They also can’t tell which part of the energy package might be effectively completed separately by an HVAC contractor.
Unless those of us that can deliver quality and performance can learn to educate our customers to see the difference between us and them, our future may not be so bright.

Let me report on two “energy contractor” cases that came in just this morning.

Case Number One

One HVAC contractor had a customer that was in trouble. The consumer had spent over $30,000 to add solar panels and a hot water coil to his heating system. The solar contractor had stuck a 20-in. x 30-in. coil on top of a 16-in. x 25-in. cooling coil without a sheet metal transition. One third of the coil was outside of the airstream. The solar contractor had been in business over 30 years.

The solar contractor had added a super restrictive air filter to “improve indoor air quality” and has sealed the duct system without adding additional duct capacity.

The system total external static pressure was nearly 1.5-in. w.c and the existing blower was rated at only .50-in. w.c. The system had less than 200 CFM per ton of airflow and the temperature rise over the solar heating coils was only 5 degrees.

When the consumer called the solar contractor about our contractor’s findings he was told that the 5 degree rise over the solar heating coil was normal and was a good deal for “free” heat. With a price tag of $30,000 the payback on this system would be about 230 years.

The question is, when our customers call and inquire about bogus building performance contractors, how do we defend against these multi faceted box sellers?

Although there are many high quality building performance contractors out there with decades of HVAC experience and who are fully equipped and able to deliver the goods, many, like this solar contractor, are not. Unless we obtain an operating knowledge of building performance, we may be shut out from theses opportunities.

Things are changing, my friends. Unless we’re prepared for inquiries that will come from our customers, we may not even be invited to the dance as consumers seek whole house solutions to their energy needs.

Case Number Two

A top notch HVAC contractor was called out to a 6 year old home to fix a whole house energy upgrade disaster. The discouraged and frustrated homeowners were not realizing the fifty percent energy savings that had been promised when they bought the $199 energy audit from Green Something Solutions in a storefront at a posh local mall. The $20,000 plus they had subsequently spent was lost money. Meanwhile the storefront has a new for rent sign.

Apparently after an 8-hour energy seminar they had purchased a used blower door and infrared camera on E-bay. The young “green” energy guys weren’t as qualified as they had claimed they were.

The attic was filled with foam board and empty cans of spray foam.

The heating and cooling system performance was measured in the 40% range. The supply air temperature was 168F but lost 60 degrees of its heat before it entered the supply registers on the main floor. The flue was damaged during the whole-house energy upgrade and carbon monoxide was pouring into the attic. A high efficiency filter had been added to the furnace and was installed so the new filter couldn’t be removed from the filter housing when it was time for a filter change.

When our contactor presented his findings, the customer summarized the situation. “It looks like the Green Something Boys left my home with the energy grade of an “F.” Can you get me up to an energy grade of a “B” so I can put all this behind me?”

As an industry we’re left with two questions to consider:

First, how do we alter our approach to meet and defeat this new competitor? Some will be a flash in the pan and be gone before we know it and will be stealing jobs and damaging consumers every day until they’re gone. Some will be as good or better quality than we are, and are able to deliver the whole energy package. Whatever the answer is, it better include the ability to respond and satisfy the needs of our customers, or we’ll lose them.

Second, do we need to consider the building performance approach in our offering? This doesn’t mean we need to go out and buy a foam insulation truck for $100,000.00 and add additional crews. Can we include basic testing and evaluation services and form alliances with qualified partners and provide what our customers are asking for?

Look ahead for yourself. Learn what’s rolling out in your area. Keep an eye on the incentive money and new tax credits driving new business your way and arriving soon in a competitor near you.

Rob “Doc” Falke serves the industry as president of National Comfort Institute a training company with technical and business level membership organizations. If you're an HVAC contractor or technician interested in a free system renovation procedure, contact Doc at robf@ncihvac.com or call him at 800-633-7058. Go to NCI’s website at nationalcomfortinstitute.com for free information, articles and downloads.

A new report from the auditing arm of Congress shows that the federal Energy Star program has a sloppy certification process that can be easily abused.

The 18-year-old program, which is administered jointly by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, offers consumers rebates and tax credits on appliances that meet certain standards for energy efficiency. American consumers, businesses, and federal agencies rely on the Energy Star program to identify products that decrease greenhouse emissions and lower energy costs. Companies use Energy Star certification to market their products to consumers in the hopes they will buy products based on government certification of their energy consumption and costs.

Given the millions of dollars allocated to encourage use of Energy Star products and concerns that the Energy Star program is vulnerable to fraud and abuse, GAO was asked to conduct proactive testing to (1) obtain Energy Star partnership status for bogus companies and (2) submit fictitious products for Energy Star certification. To perform this investigation, GAO used four bogus manufacturing firms and fictitious individuals to apply for Energy Star partnership and submitted 20 fictitious products with fake energy-savings claims for Energy Star certification. GAO also reviewed program documents and interviewed agency officials and officials from agency Inspector General (IG) offices.

But in a report issued today, the Government Accountability Office says its auditors obtained Energy Star certifications for 15 of 20 products it submitted using fictitious companies and individuals. Those certifications led to requests from real companies to buy some products because they had received Energy Star endorsements.

The phony products included a gasoline-powered alarm clock, which was approved by Energy Star without a review of the company web site or questions about the efficiency claimed for it. Auditors also submitted a geothermal heat pump, which they claimed to be more efficient than any product listed as certified on the Energy Star Web site. The product was certified and its efficiency data was not questioned. Two bogus products were rejected by the program and 3 did not receive a response. One of the products that an outside company wanted to buy was a computer monitor that had been approved by Energy Star within 30 minutes of submission.

This clearly shows how heavily American consumers rely on the Energy Star brand.

At briefings on GAO's investigation, DOE and EPA officials agreed that the program is currently based on self-certifications by manufacturers. However, officials stated there are after-market tests and self-policing that ensure standards are maintained. GAO did not test or evaluate controls related to products that were already certified and available to the public. In addition, prior DOE IG, EPA IG, and GAO reports have found that current Energy Star controls do not ensure products meet efficiency guidelines.

In 2008 Energy Star reported saving consumers $19 billion dollars on utility costs. Energy Star is slated to receive about $300 million in federal stimulus money to be used for state rebate programs on energy-efficient products.

Energy Star fraud not only affects products, but your house. Many homes are Energy Star “approved”, while a quick thermal scan can determine whether the house is, in fact, energy efficient. As a licensed home inspector, I have come across many homes that were “Energy Star compliant” but consistently had gaps of missing insulation among other problems with air leaks, thermal barriers, duct issues, leaks, etc. Beware of an Energy Star rated home, get an infrared energy audit before investing in a property.

Below are some sample pictures of mine from home inspections of Energy Star approved houses: